A Lava Cave
Wednesday was our last day at Lassen. We got breakfast from the Mineral Lodge and headed back into the park. The people at the south entrance told us that there was a beaver dam on Hat Lake. This is the little lake that was created by a lahar in the 1914-1917 eruptions. So this was our first stop.
We were hoping to see some beavers, if for no other reason than to continue our streak of seeing animals that begin with ‘B’. We walked around the lake and saw the beaver dam and the lodge out in the middle, but we didn’t see any actual beavers.
The next stop for the day was the Devastated Area exhibit. There is a short trail that shows some of the effects of the pyroclastic flows from the 1915 eruption, including flattened forests and big boulders moved down the mountain. It was impressive.
Our last stop for the day was Subway Cave. This is a bit outside the park in Lassen National Forest. This was an interesting landscape. The whole region is covered in recent lava flows, which just looks odd to us, since we’re not used to it. The cave is in a section of a very large flow that left a lava tube. We brought jackets and flashlights to take the tour. It was interesting and a lot of fun.
After the cave tour, we got in the car and headed back to Tahoe. We stopped for dinner in Reno, and we got back to the house just before dark. It was a very fun side trip.
As always, the photos from the day are in our photo album.
